Family and friends of Loyola University Chicago first-year student Sheridan Gorman watched Wednesday as the man accused of killing her pleaded not guilty, just over a month after the slaying became a flashpoint in the thorny nationwide debate over immigration enforcement.
Gorman’s supporters packed a hearing room at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse where Jose Medina appeared for his arraignment before Judge Alfredo Maldonado.
Afterward, the family held up photos of the slain 18-year-old while speaking to local media outlets for the first time since Gorman was killed near a Far North Side beach.
“It’s the beginning of a long process, and our family will be here every single step of the way until there is a full accountability for what was done to our daughter, Sheridan,” her father, Thomas Gorman, told reporters.
Sheridan Gorman’s mother fought through tears as she thanked “the entire nation” for its support.
“Our daughter was beautiful on the inside and out,” Jessica Gorman said. “She really mattered.”
Medina, a 26-year-old Venezuelan immigrant, faces first-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons charges for allegedly shooting Gorman in her back as she and her friends were walking on the lakefront in Rogers Park near the Loyola campus last month.
President Donald Trump and fellow conservative critics blamed Chicago’s sanctuary policies for the teenager’s death. But Thomas Gorman said the family doesn’t want to see her killing turned into a partisan talking point — they want “meaningful change that puts safety over politics.”
“We are not interested in slogans,” he said. “We are not interested in political spin. We are interested in only one thing: to make sure that this does not happen to another family.
“Make no mistake about it, Sheridan’s death was not just a senseless tragedy,” he added. “It was preventable.”
On March 19, Sheridan Gorman and her friends were walking toward the end of the pier at Tobey Prinz Beach when they spotted Medina hiding in the shadows, according to Cook County prosecutors.
Medina jumped out wearing a mask and holding a gun, prosecutors said. Then he fired a single shot as the group tried to run away, striking Gorman in her back and killing her, they said.
Prosecutors said video evidence helped detectives trace Medina back to his nearby apartment. When police searched his unit, they found a gun wrapped in a ski mask near his bed, they said.
Medina’s public defenders said he has a developmental disability from an earlier gunshot wound he suffered to his head during a robbery in Colombia. He’d made his way there after fleeing Venezuela.
Medina ended up in Chicago in 2023 after reaching the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas and being detained there. Even though he requested to be deported back to Colombia, officials in Texas bused him to Chicago, according to his public defenders.
When he was arrested in connection to Gorman’s killing, Medina had an active warrant for a 2023 shoplifting case. Federal prosecutors have also charged Medina with possessing a pistol while being unlawfully present in the United States. U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros said his office was taking “no chances” that Medina would be released.
Medina remains held at Cook County Jail in the murder case. His next court date in the case was set for June 1.